Air Force invokes Stop Loss. How will this affect you? Will other branches soon follow?

2015-10-12T14:37:08-04:00

As the article states, this appears to have been a self-inflicted wound as recruitment/retention suffered in recent years (not entirely the USAF's fault).
How do you think this will effect you? Do you think the other branches will employ a similar strategy?

Air Force invokes 'stop loss' in retirement change

Active-duty and some reserve officers who are slated to deploy could have their retirements denied under a little-used "stop loss" provision,

Response by 1stSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 12 at 2015 2:38 PM

2015-10-12T14:38:36-04:00

Wow, that would suck for retiree's.

Response by MSgt Matthew Meindl made Oct 12 at 2015 2:47 PM

2015-10-12T14:47:51-04:00

Just the inevitable response to purging/culling the numbers in previous years. Numbers go through a perpetual up/down cycle.

Response by MSgt Curtis Ellis made Oct 12 at 2015 2:50 PM

2015-10-12T14:50:57-04:00

Loop holes... Gotta hate them...
"This is a dramatic change that has not been well-communicated to the field," Carr said. "The essence of the message is that airmen who are eligible to retire will not be permitted to do so in lieu of an extended deployment unless they gain approval before [the Air Force Personnel Center] selects them to fill a deployed billet."

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Oct 12 at 2015 3:08 PM

2015-10-12T15:08:19-04:00

Scathing article which brings the USAF to task over manning.....rightfully so.

Response by SFC Everett Oliver made Oct 12 at 2015 3:40 PM

2015-10-12T15:40:45-04:00

Stop loss has always been used after we screwed up retention and fired a bunch of senior NCO's and Officers....Shows nothing more than poor planning...

Response by CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 12 at 2015 3:42 PM

2015-10-12T15:42:28-04:00

I recall when they did this after 9-11. So many people affected. The tentacles stretched long on that one. Folks that dropped papers for retirement/for separation/said-eff-it-not-reenlisting, were kept in and some were even deployed. Morale was LOW, to say the least.

I recall one female that went from AD to Contractor as well as an IMA Reservist. She got recalled after 9-11 from a very high-paying Contractor job to a SrA. In between shamelessly not doing her job, she squawked to everyone to get ok'd to "go home". She was already slated to deploy and did. She caused so much heartburn, when she asked to transfer billet to another Command closer to her HOR (and new fiancée), they allowed it. New Command told her she could release to IRR. Then the big hand of fate swooped in and had her deploy again since she was "critical AFSC and within her 1095". She did that, returned, dropped papers for IRR, and then Stop-loss hit. Man O' man, talk about Murphy's Law for this young lady. Talk about a bad taste for the AF blue as well as Charlie-Foxtrot.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Oct 12 at 2015 5:49 PM

2015-10-12T17:49:55-04:00

I wish they had done that when I was getting out.

Response by SMSgt David A Asbury made Oct 12 at 2015 6:00 PM

2015-10-12T18:00:43-04:00

You must go back to the reason you made a contract with the USAF. Stop loss is nothing new. It has been around for a long time. Remember that when you enlisted/commissioned you did it for 8 years. While you think that keeping someone for a one month to one year, it all counts towards the 8 years. Stop loss will not effect every member of the force. So suck it up and stall tall.

Response by SrA Matthew Knight made Oct 13 at 2015 1:13 AM

2015-10-13T01:13:28-04:00

To me it will have no affect as I will be separating rather than retiring but I don't doubt that it will affect personnel in the weather career field, especially with us hurting for NCOs. There's going to be a lot of Techs and up that are very unhappy I'll bet.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 13 at 2015 8:40 AM

2015-10-13T08:40:13-04:00

This is nothing new.....has happened many times.

AF will make every effort to accommodate/assist those that were already in the process of separating.
Individuals who are/were Status Code 20 (Active Projected Separation no Projected Assignment) can usually apply for a waiver if there has been a significant amount of money already put forth (for example they sold their house and are living in family billeting.) Some get caught up in it.....some don't.....I know many folks who have been affected by this in the past and they all survived....and without fail if their were extenuating circumstances such as they had no place to live....hoops were jumped threw to either get them a waiver or to help them as much as possible. Bottom line its a risk we all took/take voluntarily when we signed up for service.....kind of like retiring and being eligible for call back....all you can do is cross your fingers and follow orders.

Side note .....you've always needed permission to retire...that's why you have to apply for it.....not like it was ever automatic.

Best wishes to those caught up in this and hope it resolves rapidly.

Response by Maj Matt Hylton made Oct 13 at 2015 9:18 AM

2015-10-13T09:18:11-04:00

Less than a year after we just had a huge RIF. Just goes to show that the AF still can't figure out how to manage personnel effectively.

Response by SrA Daniel Jewell made Oct 13 at 2015 1:34 PM

2015-10-13T13:34:24-04:00

Boy how the pendulum swings.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 13 at 2015 2:59 PM

2015-10-13T14:59:01-04:00

Key words jump out at me on this..."officer" and "365 extended deployment". I was selected twice for one of these one year vacations but did not go, after the assignments were cancelled just days before departure.
As an enlisted SNCO, I am not saying it wouldn't happen to the enlisted, but you would have to be in a critical AFSC to the mission or one of the last remaining in that AFSC.
I have an approved retirement date that is based on HYT. Remember the AF Core Values..? "Service before self."
Just be prepared because anything can be waived.

Response by Sgt Leonard Bustin made Oct 13 at 2015 3:39 PM

2015-10-13T15:39:57-04:00

I personally would not want to be in the military under the current administration as I think Obama is an Islamist. He traded a deserter for five Taliban commanders. He is trying to "license" Death to America Iran with nuclear, ten years if they don't cheat, and release money they will use against our allies and us. He defended the PA in court a month ago in an for appeal charges they terrorized and killed Americans. I hope our serviceman's loyalties rest with the constitution, not with Obama.

Response by Maj Marty Greene made Oct 13 at 2015 5:37 PM

2015-10-13T17:37:38-04:00

Whatever happened to the 7-day "opt out?" A 365 is a PCS, isn't it? A TDY is 180, isn't it? It used to be that if you were retirement-eligible, you had 7 days to turn down a PCS and retire. Junior people could also opt-out, but not be able to reenlist past their current hitch.

Response by MSgt Andrew Blackwell made Oct 13 at 2015 8:28 PM

2015-10-13T20:28:31-04:00

First off, if you stop to read the actual AFI that they are quoting from they are not invoking stop-loss. What it says is that unless you have a hardship identified in Table 2.2, or other extenuating circumstances, 7 day or 3 day option may not be viable if you have been selected for deployment, 365 or PCS. We will probably be seeing an update to the assignments AFI as well to clarify the 7DO / 3DO in line with this.

Response by TSgt Charles Holmes made Oct 13 at 2015 9:06 PM

2015-10-13T21:06:49-04:00

Blame the occupier in chief. It's his puppy!

The exact thing happened to me in Dec of '01. I was set to retire in March '02, but was stop-lossed & sent to Oman for a little visit. It wasn't a biggie for me, but I did have to alter my plans for retirement a bit.

Response by TSgt Jim McGill made Oct 13 at 2015 10:21 PM

2015-10-13T22:21:35-04:00

It is not a true stop loss where you are forced to stay after your ets date. What is happening is that personnel know that they are on a deployment list so they try to get out of it by putting in thier retirement paperwork. This time around though the air force is turning them down and tell them they have to deploy. And I tell you what, trying to get out of a typical air force deployment is really sad since the average is only 4 months

Response by Maj Pete Siegel made Oct 13 at 2015 11:16 PM

2015-10-13T23:16:28-04:00

I've been retired for 22 years, and one thing that has remained constant is the AF keeps reinventing the wheel.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 14 at 2015 10:48 AM

2015-10-14T10:48:10-04:00

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but I don't see anywhere in here where it says stop loss has been inacted. What I do see is that it says information has been added to th AFI that now makes it possible for the Air Force to initiate stop loss for individuals who are slated to retire/separate and have also been slotted to deploy. Did people actually read the article?

So what does this mean? Sounds to me like the Air Force is actually closing a loop hole where an individual who is told they have to deploy or do a 365, can then turn around and drop paperwork and retire/separate to avoid going. My interpretation is that this will only be done in times of need. Sounds like a good thing to me. Again from what I'm reading this has not been implemented, just added to the AFI so that it is in there. It's very misleading to say this has been implemented when it hasn't. If it has can someone show me a message that has been sent down or any actual guidance stating that stop loss is in effect, because I haven't seen it yet.

Response by SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 14 at 2015 11:46 AM

2015-10-14T11:46:11-04:00

I deleted my response

Response by SSgt Kristi Aldridge made Oct 14 at 2015 12:16 PM

2015-10-14T12:16:24-04:00

I was on stop loss for many months, lost a civilian job because of it...It was over after about 6 months...

Response by SSgt Derek S. made Oct 14 at 2015 5:44 PM

2015-10-14T17:44:37-04:00

This has happenesd in the past and it did prior to my retirement. If you have already put in your papers and have a date set i would suggest that you take the following steps. Read the stop loss message / order for youself do not take someone elses word on what it says as the verbage is important. Once you have done that continue the process you have already initiated, you may be exempted or things may change. In my case because I already had a girm retirement date and had already started the process I was exempted. Others that would have retired at the same time did not follow these steps and where forced to delay their departure costing them previously secured jobs.

Response by Maj Garau Francis made Oct 15 at 2015 7:58 AM

2015-10-15T07:58:29-04:00

The origin of the decline : the context of a culture of betrayal source of constant attacks ; the disintegration gained by the assasination of J.F. Kennedy.

Response by SMSgt Thor Merich made Oct 15 at 2015 6:43 PM

2015-10-15T18:43:23-04:00

This an age old problem that the AF can never seem to get right. It seems that that they either have too many or not enough. I remember back in the early 2000's, they were so short of SF that they gave huge reenlistment bonuses. But a few years later, when I reenlisted, the bonus was zero!

The AF seems to always miscalculate how many pilots they need. In the last 30 years, there have been numerous times of either too many or not enough pilots. A few years ago, they were dumping pilots at an alarming rate. You would think that they could plan a little better as far as personnel needs are concerned.

However, with the uncertain budgets that they have had to deal with year after year, they may have somewhat of a excuse.

Response by MSgt Robert Slagle made Oct 16 at 2015 10:20 AM

2015-10-16T10:20:05-04:00

This is just part of the standard cycle caused by piss poor leadership. We pay people to get out, too many and then force others to stay beyond their contract. Over my 20+ years I saw this over and over.

Response by Maj Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 19 at 2015 9:45 AM

2015-10-19T09:45:21-04:00

As long as they aren't kicking out a bunch of CGOs I'm good to go!

Response by CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 24 at 2015 1:39 PM

2015-10-24T13:39:44-04:00

In the early 90s, the Air Force took junior pilots and placed them in non-flying positions. At a briefing during the closure of my base, a Colonel from AFMPC was asked why we were keeping pilots if we had such an overage. His reply: "We don't have an overage of pilots. We have a shortage of cockpits." Thanks for clearing that up, Colonel.